# Was the bullet from JFK's fatal head shot ever recovered? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 10, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163 "2003-02-10T19:26:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163/1 "2003-02-10T19:26:05Z")
Not an invitation for conspiracy adherents to “prove” their point–just a simple “yes” or “no.” The person who “borrowed” my **Case Closed** several years ago never returned it–and I don’t remember what it said. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163/2 "2003-02-10T19:46:36Z")
Fragments only. The bullet disintegrated as a result of the impact. [Here](http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/wound1.gif) is a drawing of the distribution of of bullet fragments inside the president’s skull. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163/3 "2003-02-10T19:57:08Z")
OK. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163/4 "2003-02-10T20:07:55Z")
From the autopsy report: > [@](#): > > Roentgenograms [X-rays] of the skull reveal multiple minute metallic fragments along a line corresponding with a line joining the above described small occipital [back of skull] wound and the right supra-orbital [above the eye] ridge. From the surface of the disrupted right cerebral cortex two small irregularly shaped fragments of metal are recovered. These measure 7 x 2 mm. and 3 x 1 mm. These are placed in the custody of Agents Francis X. O’Neill, Jr. and James W. Sibert, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who executed a receipt therefor (attached). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163/5 "2003-02-10T20:21:34Z")
From the Warren Commission Report: > [@](#): > > After the Presidential car was returned to Washington on November 22, 1963, Secret Service agents found two bullet fragments in the front seat. One fragment, found on the seat beside the driver, weight 44.6 grams and consisted of the nose portion of a bullet. The other fragment, found along the right side of the front seat, weight 21.0 grains and consisted of the base portion of a bullet. During the course of an examination on November 23, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation found three small lead particles, weighing between seven-tenths and nine-tenths fo a grain each, on the rug underneat the left jump seat which had been occupied by Mrs. Connally. Another fragment apparently hit a bystander: > [@](#): > > At a different location in Dealey Plaza, the evidence indicated that a bullet fragment did hit the street. James T. Tague, who got out of his car to watch the motorcade from a position between Commerce and Main Streets near the Triple Underpass, was hit on the cheek by an object during the shooting. Within a few minutes Tague reported this to Deputy Sheriff Eddy R. Walthers, who was examining the area to see if any bullets had struck the turf. Walthers immediately started to search where Tague had been standing and located a place on the south curb of Main Street where it appeared a bullet had hit the cement. According to Tague, “There was a mark quite obviously that was a bullet, and it was very fresh.” . . . Scientific examination of the mark on the south curb of Main Stret by FBI experts disclosed metal smears which “were spectrographically determined to be essentially lead with a trace of antimony.” ---
**Author:** ![X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbe5ce/32.png) [@X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X_Slayer_ALE)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163/6 "2003-02-10T20:22:23Z")
Geeee considering that there were evidence of bullet fragments in JFK’s head (whose brain became missing BTW) then it kinda poses a connundrum to the fact that the pristine bullet revovered besides Connally at the hospital is officially the one bullet that both killed Kennedy and wounded Connally. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163/7 "2003-02-10T20:28:53Z")
No, the bullet recovered at Parkland Hospital was not believed to be the bullet that killed President Kennedy. That bullet was believed to have caused President Kennedy thoracic (neck and throat) wounds. Read before you write. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163/8 "2003-02-10T20:33:25Z")
The bullet that turned up on Conolly’s strecther (the fabled “magic bullet”) wasn’t the last bullet that passed through Kennedy’s head, it was the second bullet that entered under his shoulderblade, came out near his neck, went through Conolly’s torso, through his wrist, and embedded in his leg. Some said that even passing through his wrist would have deformed the bullet considerably, but they weren’t taking into account that the bullet’s velocity would have been slowed considerably by passing through two torsos. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163/9 "2003-02-10T20:50:10Z")
The entry wound on Governor Connally’s back shows that the bullet was tumbling at that point, and entered his flesh lengthwise, not nose first, indicating that the bullet had already hit something else in its path, which in turns suggests the bullet was also not moving at a high velocity when it entered Connally. And the fact that the bullet was tumbling lengthwise through Connally also explains the type of damage to the bullet: it is flattened lengthwise, not nose to end. It’s not a “pristine” bullet, especially if you view it on end, where you can see the flattening. ---
**Author:** ![Pucky\_Schumer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Pucky\_Schumer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pucky_Schumer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163/10 "2003-02-10T20:51:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by X~Slayer(ALE) \* > \*\*Geeee considering that there were evidence of bullet fragments in JFK’s head (whose brain became missing BTW) then it kinda poses a connundrum to the fact that the pristine bullet revovered besides Connally at the hospital is officially the one bullet that both killed Kennedy and wounded Connally. \*\* Evidence indicates that JFK’s brain probably was returned, by family members, to his grave at Arlington Cemetery. Autopsy materials were under control of the Kennedy family anyway. [link](http://www.jfk-online.com/jfk100destroy.html) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163/11 "2003-02-10T21:38:03Z")
I’m glad the OP mentioned this book. The others who debunk the nonsense about “magic bullets” probably have read it as well. Everyone else should read the chapter on the “pristine” bullet in [_Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385474466/qid=1044912665/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_2/103-3312852-0368660?v=glance&s=books&n=507846), by Gerald Posner. Of course, true conspiracy buffs will want to dispute Posner in any case, but at least they’ll know the level of the bar they have to get over. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163/12 "2003-02-10T21:53:20Z")
Photos of the bullet found on the stretcher at Parkland Hospital: [on end](http://www.jfk-info.com/33-3321a.gif) and [lengthwise](http://www.jfk-info.com/33-3319a.gif). ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-bullet-from-jfks-fatal-head-shot-ever-recovered/154163/13 "2003-02-11T00:35:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > Another fragment apparently hit a bystander It most likely wasn’t a fragment of the bullet that hit Mr. Tague. It was more likely a fragment of the cement impacted in your quote. This is most likely Oswald’s first shot, deflected by the trees that obscured his view when it was fired, and never recovered. The second shot is the “magic” bullet recovered at Parkland, and the third is the one that disintegrated on impact with the president’s head.